A Chinese attempt to develop a special economic zone with joint Taiwan management has run afoul of the government in Taipei, which sees it as an attempt by Beijing to make political inroads on the democratic island. The Pingtan Experimental Zone, an industrial park to be built on a fishing village in China's Fujian Province, faces Taiwan across the 100-mile (160-kilometer) Taiwan Strait. Beijing is touting it as an opportunity for Taiwan businesspeople to stand shoulder to shoulder with their mainland cousins, developing, managing and operating the project on a joint basis. That has raised the ire of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, the Cabinet level body responsible for relations with China, from which Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. “Pingtan can't possibly be a cross-Strait experimental zone,” said MAC deputy head Liu Te-shun. “No agencies in the public sector would coordinate with them.” He said the government won't stop Taiwanese businesses from investing there, but they would operate at their own risk.
